<p>if a kid has a brain... he/she can study on her own and buy several prep books instead.</p>
<p>I disagree that "more money equals better quality". I don't know that the $350 tutor is all that much better than the $20 an hour one. I only know the results of the former, and at least a few kids have made practically no progress (moved 20-30 points in either direction, which is the built in score variability, even without prep). I find it sickening that people believe that spending more means higher quality.</p>
<p>As I said, I believe in the $20 test book from the College Board. Then again, my own kid didn't even open that, took the test once, and is satisfied with his scores, so what do I know? I just think it's all a lot of unnecessary stress and hype.</p>
<p><a href="It%20should%20also%20be%20noted%20that%20economically%20disadvantaged%20students%20*never*%20have%20this%20option.">quote</a>
[/quote]
Not always true. Our high school offers the SAT prep course at considerably reduced cost to everyone, and at hugely reduced cost or free to those on reduced or free lunch. There's also a special course just for the football team! (Which to be fair they say is open to others.)</p>
<p>For everyone who did not prep and did fine, you will find someone who did prep and improved their scores.</p>
<p>My son did some online prep at home after his first test and improved by about 100 points. </p>
<p>His friend took an expensive "live" class. Problem with the class was it was filled with kids whose parents were fed up with their lack of motivation and were sending their in hopes that someone else would crack their heads. So when the kids were supposed to be practicing, sharing their reasoning, helping each other...it was a fiasco. The attitudes were horrible, which didn't help his attitude either. Waste of time and money.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I disagree that "more money equals better quality". I don't know that the $350 tutor is all that much better than the $20 an hour one. I only know the results of the former, and at least a few kids have made practically no progress (moved 20-30 points in either direction, which is the built in score variability, even without prep). I find it sickening that people believe that spending more means higher quality.
[/quote]
Paying more money does not assure higher quality. But when a person is paying a lot, it usually does motivate him to get his money's worth. The money does not buy a better product; it just makes the buyer want to take full advantage of what he is paying for. The problem with SAT prep is that the paying party and the need-to-get-motivated party are not one and the same, so you may end up paying a lot, and getting very little, if anything, in return (though some kids might do more with a tutor than they would on their own).</p>
<p>I do not advocate paying for the test prep at all. My kids did not even take the free summer classes that our school used to offer-- they felt that they could prep by themselves much more efficiently (and they were right).</p>
<p>I do think there is a significant advantage in using one's funds for a private tutor rather than a course. The tutor can focus on your child's specific weaknesses rather than deal in generalities. I also wholeheartedly agree that hiring the tutor will "force" a student to work harder on test prep, even though he/she "could" do it alone, it is much more likely to happen with accountability.
My son went from PSAT (pre-tutoring) of 610cr, 730m, 710 wr to SAT (post-tutoring) of 680, 800, 790 so needless to say we were very satisfied with the investment (about $1,200).</p>
<p>But, is that the tutoring, or time and maturity? Both my kids went up a couple hundred points (old-style tests) between PSAT to SAT with no tutoring/prep. I believe that's fairly common (and cheaper, too).</p>
<p>I'm actually thinking about paying my younger son to do Xiggi-style prep. I agree group classes are pretty wasteful - even at the deep discount our school provides. He'll be taking PSAT as sophomore in the fall and we'll see where he stands. (His 7th grade scores were 150 points below Mathson's in both CR and Math, so I have no idea what to expect.)</p>
<p>I think if a kid is motivated and does some studying on their own, you can achieve as good a result as taking a high-priced course. It worked for me. It's all so interesting to note that when you get your SAT scores back they tell you how kids with your scores did when they took the exam a second time. In some cases they expect your scores to fall the second time.</p>
<p>My original SAT results predicted a worse score for me if I took the SAT's a second time.</p>
<p>My results were:</p>
<p>.............Oct-06...Oct-05....Change...% Change
Verbal......800.........740......60..........8.11%
Math.......700.........720.....-20......... -2.78%
Writing.....800.........690.....110.........15.94%
Total......2300.......2150.....150..........6.98%</p>
<p>and since most schools take your best score in each area my best 3 scores combined were 2320.</p>
<p>Our son did no SAT prep whatsoever other than taking the PSAT as a soph and PSAT + SAT as a junior. His "reasoning" was that he wanted to have his score represent what his actual math and verbal aptitude were and didn't feel the need to spend time trying to raise his scores by 20-50 points.</p>
<p>As a result he went into the tests very relaxed and did quite well-1410 as a jr and 1450 as a sr.</p>
<p>And we did not have to nag either.</p>
<p>Another "sample of 1" story: My son #2 scored in the "commended" range of the PSAT as a sophomore and a friend of his was taking a "small group" prep course for the "real" PSAT/NMSQT the following fall and qualified for a discount if he got someone else to take it with him, so we said sure. Cost about $250, IIRC. My son's score on the test he "prepped" for went down, not up. In fact it was the lowest test result he got; about 8% lower than the SATs he took the following March, without test prep.</p>
<p>Given the natural randomness of test results, plus normal intellectual growth over time; good/bad night's sleep the evening before, uncomfortable chairs/bad lighting, a kid in the next seat with B.O., boyfriend/girlfriend trouble -- whatever -- I'm dubious about the actual impact of these courses.</p>
<p>kluge, I would think you would definitely have to be careful about a small group SAT prep. One of my sons had the opportunity to do a free weekend long prep with 3 of his friends. This group was preselected by the mom who arranged it all, based on their abilities. A LOT of the time was spent going over questions and discussing why this or that answer was correct. The understanding of HOW the correct answer is discovered is imperative. Therefore, if the group you are with is not on the same starting place as you (for example, you're starting with a CR of 600+ and they are starting with CR's in the 400's), you are NOT going to get much out of discussing the reasoning behind theirs and your selections.</p>
<p>"Given the natural randomness of test results, plus normal intellectual growth over time; good/bad night's sleep the evening before, uncomfortable chairs/bad lighting, a kid in the next seat with B.O., boyfriend/girlfriend trouble -- whatever -- I'm dubious about the actual impact of these courses."</p>
<p>I think my score attest to the variability of the day and test and mood. </p>
<p>October 2006 I got 670 Math, 770 Verbal
January 2007 I got 800 Math, 690 Verbal.</p>
<p>=) </p>
<p>(In-between, I did the practice math section of one test a week before the Jan. testing date.)</p>
<p>Re: GRE test prep. If your child just goes to the GRE website, there is a practice test to take which is the most accurate thing out there. As far as I know, it is the only test which represents the true difficulty (or lack thereof :)) of the GRE's.</p>
<p>If you're not motivated enough to study on your own, no method of test prep is worth it. But if you are motivated, a book can do as much or more than a class.</p>
<p>Re: GRE prep...
since this is an interest at our house, I went to the number2.com website and took the "example" 10 question test. The first time I got 9 of the 10 correct and the results told me "Wow, well done, you got even the hardest ones correct." Being naturally wary, I did it again. Got most of the same questions, so I could intentionally miss 80% on the first try. Guess what my evaluation said? "Wow, well done..." I guess that since you can't advance until you eventually hit the right answer I did technically answer them all correctly, but it sure took away the glow from their first "well done". I think the GRe website test would be more accurate.
BTW, I took the old school GRE in the 70's. Did respectably well for someone who didn't know what they were before I walked in but do remember throwing down my #2 pencil at the end of the day long test (general in the morning, subject tests after lunch) and swearing on all that was holy that I would never bubble another bubble again!</p>
<p>Our kids all did very well with self-study. Didn't know about the Xiggi method but did a scaled down version. Practice and review of the question type is all you need if you have a good vocabulary and grasp of math.</p>
<p>All I did was bought a $20 dollar book and studied from it. Just use the book and have some discipine, it worked very well for me.</p>
<p>For my SAT II's I got a books at the library so it didn't cost me anything.</p>
<p>In my school, (an Ohio public) if you're in the top 3% of PSAT scorers after 8th or 9th grade testing, you're invited to take a Test Prep course (during school, for credit) which focuses on test-taking strategy, logic puzzles, critical thinking, and so on. Students seem to love the class, (I'll be taking it next year, I was off by one percentile last year) but I don't understand the logic behind offering it exclusively to top scorers. Maybe someone on CC will be able to follow this logic? My only thought is that maybe it's kind of self-serving for the school as well, trying to increase their NMF numbers?</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>Both of our sons took Testmasters and both raised their scores about 200 points (old test). It was a $700 class, as I remember. S1 ended up getting a nice scholarship, so we thought it was well worth it. He <em>never</em> would have done all that prep on his own. Ditto for S2.</p>